Gerbils Fighting - Advice needed...

[guest]

so i have two male gerbils that i have had for a little over a year, they loved each other and spent all of their time together. but i came home one day to see that Theo had a bloody stomach, i was so scared so i separated them, and i put them in different tanks. i do not know how to do the split cage thing and i dont have the supplies for it but i put one of them in a ball so they could still smell each other and switched them out for a little bit and then i tried to let them be with each other again and everything was fine until i came home to the same one with his tail bleeding and his fur gone at the top by his butt. i have had them completely separated for a couple of days now but i want them to get back together again but i dont know what to do

[tanzanyte]

I’m so sorry you’ve encountered this. It must be traumatising to come back to.
How is Theo doing? Are his wounds healing ok? Have you noticed if your other boy has any wounds or is it just Theo?
I haven’t had a de-clan happen but have read a lot about it as I worried when I was bonding my girls. I believe that you will have a long road of split cage ahead or you will have to permanently separate them given that they have had a couple of go’s at each other already. Even if you do try a split cage there is no guarantee they will happily live together again.

Do you know if Theo has an underlying condition that may have caused the shift in power?
I know everyone wants gerbils to stay together but the kindest thing is to keep a permanent split or find other cage mates to introduce. If you don’t have time for intros/bonding then a permanent split works well. With regard to making a split cage and supplies I will look to see if I can find some links to show you what to do. I picked my stuff up from Wickes but most hardware stores should carry what you need.

[tanzanyte]

As a guest I know you can’t view other members areas but if you do sign up there’s lots of info on split cages and how to do intro’s. This forum was a life saver for me during bonding process.
Mark also had a permanent split set up of you’d prefer to go down that route

There’s another website linked below that has good info, although I would say that the advice given stating that three intro attempts with ball fighting is a failed bond is not fully true. I did a number of attempts (much more than 3) and in the end had to take things slower before my girls bonded happily for the rest of their lives.
I also did a straight across divider rather than a diagonal one. This is certainly easier to make.
gerbilcare.co.uk/bonding/